--No kooky links today, just opinions.
--As a Redskins sympathizer (considering how much the team has changed since that brief run of likability after Sean Taylor's murder, when I first got hooked, it's tough to call me a fan) I guess I have to comment on the McNabb trade. Jason Campbell got drafted into a terrible situation, with poor receivers and an aging (and soon to be obsolete) o-line. He got approximately one half of a good season out of Clinton Portis, during which time Campbell was a fringe Pro Bowler. While "regressing" this last season and a half, his receivers led the league in drops, the running game was nonexistent, and after Chris Samuels went down Campbell got sacked while taking three-step drops, to say nothing of the crippling schematic issues that came with Jim Zorn.
In short, Campbell was boned from the beginning. Throughout it all, he handled himself with class (a nebulous concept at best, but he never called out his teammates or coaches), and got repaid with a characteristically short-sighted move from Skins management. He deserved better than to find out from a reporter, and not his own team, that a trade had been made for his replacement. He deserves better than to end up in Oakland, which, along with Carolina and Arizona, is looking like a likely suitor.
As for McNabb, I don't know that he's an immediate improvement. His stats grade out as slightly more efficient than Campbell (admittedly damaged somewhat by his long throws to DeSean Jackson), and he's definitely got a quicker release. He'll need it, especially if the Redskins don't draft Russell Okung with that fourth pick. The o-line will continue to be one of, if not the, worst in the league, and for all the criticism directed at McNabb's receivers over the years, I'd like to see a corps worse than the one he's inheriting from J-Cam. Putting an aging, injury-prone QB behind that o-line will almost certainly be disastrous.
From a fan's--sympathizer's--point of view, I can't hate this move enough. If the Skins were going to trade that pick, it should've gone towards getting Jared Gaither, one of the best young LTs in the league, from the Ravens. Moreover, I just plain don't like Donovan McNabb. I didn't like him in Philly as a player (and I've always felt he's been appropriately rated in that second tier), and he's always struck me as a guy who doesn't mind laughing at his own stupid jokes. Add this to the rumors that the front office is trying to pick up Brandon Marshall, and you've got a classic case of Same Old Skins.
--Also, the Skins shouldn't move to the 3-4. It's going to negate the talents of Haynesworth, Andre Carter (who should have gone to Philly instead of that draft pick), and probably London Fletcher. It'll be good for Orakpo and Landry, but just like the Chiefs, the Skins are trying to make their personnel fit their scheme, and not vice-versa.
--I can't but think that Elvis Costello, like Pavement, is a musician I'll like a lot more when I'm 30.
--Baseball's back, and Albert Pujols is ridiculous.
--Because I'm a douche, I rank all my songs on iTunes. I used to give every songs three stars on average, and then work in either direction, but I changed it recently to make one star the average so as not to inflate ratings. The gist of this is that I decided to limit myself to only 25 five-star ratings (whittling down the list was one of the harder things I've ever had to do), and here are my 25 favorite songs, in no particular order:
"Heroes (Single Version)" -- David Bowie
"Once in a Lifetime" -- Talking Heads
"Seen and Not Seen" -- Talking Heads
"Burning Down the House" -- Talking Heads
"This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" -- Talking Heads
"Dear Prudence" -- The Beatles
"Wake Up" -- Arcade Fire
"The Army" -- Ben Folds Five
"Tonight" -- TV on the Radio
"Young Liars" -- TV on the Radio
"Holland, 1945" -- Neutral Milk Hotel
"Oh Comely" -- Neutral Milk Hotel
"Superpowers" -- The Dismemberment Plan
"Supper's Ready" -- Genesis
"Upward Over the Mountain" -- Iron & Wine
"99 Problems/Helter Skelter" -- Danger Mouse
"Teardrop" -- Jose Gonzales
"The Execution of All Things" -- Rilo Kiley
"Nomadic Revery (All Around)" -- Bonnie "Prince" Billy
"For the Widows in Paradise; For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti" -- Sufjan Stevens
"Chicago" -- Sufjan Stevens
"Casimir Pulaski Day" -- Sufjan Stevens
"I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" -- Wilco
"The Temptation of Adam" -- Josh Ritter
"Dark Center of the Universe" -- Modest Mouse
Just missing the cut: "11:11" by Andrew Bird; "B.O.B." by Outkast; "December 4th" by Jay-Z; "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" by Arcade Fire; "Haitian Fight Song" by Charles Mingus; lots of Bowie, Neutral Milk Hotel, Iron & Wine and Talking Heads.
--Also, I think that Modest Mouse is a band I've consistently, somewhere subconsciously, been underrating. They really are stellar.
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